


Dancing with Truth

by Merfilly



Series: Slip In Time Pern AU [9]
Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Paradox
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-21
Updated: 2013-10-21
Packaged: 2017-12-30 01:27:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1012379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Gather at Fort leads to declarations</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dancing with Truth

The first Gather at Fort was well attended by Ruatha, mostly to barter for goods they needed. Meron's marks, in both Nabol and Ruatha, like Fax's in High Reaches and Crom, were to be reinvested to bring each of the Captive Holds back up to a quality of life enjoyed by most of Pern. Negotiations to bring crafters in were also underway, as everyone involved wanted the Holds settled into normality in order to better combat Thread.

Dragonriders had come, as well, bearing marks that had mostly been scored before the Weyrs had either left the North or died as a result of their greed. That they were willing to pay… or trade their own craft work… put many suspicions to rest.

Lessa kept her eyes out for the riders of Benden, her hopes rising when she saw both F'lon and Larna walking beside the MasterHarper and his wife. She racked her brain again for why the woman was important, and came up with Kasia of Tillek for the name, related to the Tillek bloodline. And advantageous alliance for the Harper Hall, given how persecuted the Hall had been through the Long Interval. 

However, despite the former Benden Weyrleader and Weyrwoman being present, Lessa failed to spy either the new one or his brother, much to her consternation. Failing to find them, she turned instead to the business allotted to her, making her way to contract Weavers for their Hold. The Weaving Hall at Ruatha had been cleaned, renovated, and only awaited some enterprising young Master or a senior Journeyman to come and direct those few in the hold who still had the Ruathan patterns.

* * *

_Rider._

_Yes, Canth?_ F'nor continued working on the harness set, having found a stretched loop that had required splicing. 

_We will go, yes, where Tallorth and Simanith's riders went?_

F'nor chuckled. _You remember 'soon' better than most say dragons do. Yes, Canth. I told F'lon I would come nearer to the dancing. It's why I slept so late today._

 _She is there. She thinks of you… and me?_ Canth was very pleased by that.

F'nor was as well, and he sent his partner a warm wave of love. _It's a pity she wasn't born to us. But I have permission to Search her. If her father will allow it…_

_She hears. She needs to be here. And she will ride well._

_Green or gold, I have no doubt._ During the long wait for Thread, daughters of dragon riders had stood the sands alongside sons, to give enough choice, and typically fared well on either color. Some few girls, like the boys that were so strongly drawn to the greens, had even impressed the sturdier blues and browns, though it had been a scandal each time. F'nor didn't want to fathom the scandal if a girl ever Impressed bronze.

_We will go. And you will tell her?_

_Yes, worrisome one,_ F'nor reassured with a laugh. The dragon was as besotted as the rider, it seemed.

* * *

Lord Groghe was more than happy to have Lord Kale and family in attendance as the trading of the day drew to an end. He kept an eye on his sons and how they circled the youngest of the Ruathan brood, wondering if that would be a good match to make. As his daughters were noticing just how sturdy and handsome her brothers were, it might be possible to solidify Blood alliance in a few different matches.

He had to admire the Lady Adessa; her impartial hand in dealing with the full and half-blooded sons was laudable, especially given the affection with which she showed them. Not many Ladies could do more than turn a blind eye to the half-bloods, yet Adessa accepted them as her husband's heirs.

"Before the young ones get out of hand," Lord Groghe began in a low aside to Lady Adessa. "Should I, or they, be aware of prior promises? I know Ruatha has ties to Crom, and the infant heir there…"

"No, Lord Groghe," Adessa said with a soft smile. "Lessa is not to wed her distant cousin. Our sons … the wed ones did not come today. They guard our Hold for their father. Those with us are apt to choose for themselves, as their elder brothers did."

Lord Groghe, long a friend of the MasterHarper, was accustomed to word games and trickery. Adessa said the sons would choose. "Then you have plans for your daughter, but not in Crom," he surmised.

"Lessa, as ever, is a rule unto herself, and will walk her own path, Lord Groghe. More is not for me to say," Lady Adessa told him. She then smiled. "I would like to know if your wife would very much mind if, after the first dance, you and she show us the newer style? We've been so long away from Gather dances," she said, an adroit change of topic.

"It will be our pleasure."

* * *

F'nor saw her before she spied him, escorting one of the Fortian sons in a courtly dance. It gave the brown rider time to admire her, the deep blue of the dress she wore such a striking contrast to the clothes he normally saw her in. Not that he'd had much reason to since that last Rest Day he'd used to go there. He'd been busy, solidifying F'lar's influence in the Weyr's traditional territory, riding Fall, and helping the High Reaches Weyr get all that they needed. With so many of its people just out from terror and tyranny, they had not wished to ask for aid at all from the Holds.

There was a gold egg from F'lar's queen, and through near unanimous desire, it had been decided to Search for all Candidates for all the colors among the holds. Each Weyr had plans to do so, but Fort's R'van had waived his interest in Ruatha's daughter at seeing the normally laid-back brown rider so taken with her.

All F'nor had to do was convince her, and ask her father's permission.

 _She knows we are here, but she must finish that dance,_ Canth told his rider. _How long will the dance be?_

F'nor chuckled and actually listened to the song. _A few more measures only._ He brushed at the rich nap of the wherhide tunic he wore, then moved forward as those measures wended down.

"My lady Lessa?" he called before another boy… one with the look of Tillek, F'nor thought… could intrude on her. She turned, skirts swirling around her ankles, and smiled warmly. "May I?"

"Yes." She placed her hand in his and led him further into the dancers, rather than stay where the Bloods could find her so easily. "You've been busy, Canth says."

"He talks a lot… to you." He caught the local variation in the dance quickly, while applauding, inwardly, her subtle lead that had covered for him.

"Yes… but it does tax us both to talk across the continent," she said boldly, admitting to contacting his dragon in their separation from her. F'nor's heart hammered; did she truly miss them that much, or was it a matter of having a novel situation playing out?

"If you lived closer, it would not be so taxing," he offered.

Lessa smiled up at him, then saved her breath as the tempo shifted, and they were forced to match. She was quick and agile, a fighter who recognized dancing as exercise or even sparring, when shared so intimately with a partner. F'nor did all he could to not be found lacking, and only conceded her hand to another when she politely accepted an invitation that included a fair trade in partners.

"Did you eat? I'm hungry again. Come with me," Lessa demanded as she did find him again, three songs later. "They dance my feet off, offer me wine, but never herd beast to sop it up, hoping to make me dizzy! HA! I've had wine and ale alike since I was a small one; too many fouled streams in the area we roved as Moron tried to stop us!"

"Your hate for him goes deeper than just the fact he held your Hold," F'nor noted, as she never used the dead man's true name. 

"If you'd met some of the women we sheltered from him, from his grasping master, Fax, you'd understand why," Lessa assured him. "Or ever buried the starved children of far-flung cotholds, because seed was not sent when the prior Turn's crop failed… the list goes on, Brown Rider."

"My apologies, Lessa. If it seemed I belittled what has been suffered."

She reached up to touch his face lightly, meeting his eyes. "No… I just have not done all the healing in such a short time."

"But you do wish to. Some… some nurse their anger, their hate. It turns them bitter, even once they are free of the physical harm," F'nor said. "We see that in some, at High Reaches and its smaller holds."

"They were in Fax's hands, and the man was brutal by all we knew. Until the dragons came back, our greatest fear was not failing to reclaim Ruatha. It was failing to do so before Meron and Fax came to blows with each other, and the people suffered more." She saw him understand that, then pushed it away from her mind, eagerly grabbing a plate and leading him through the food tables. "Enough of that! You are here, and I have escaped the Bloods. I wish to enjoy your company the rest of the night."

"Only the night, Lady Lessa?" F'nor asked, his voice dipping slightly into invitation for far more.

She did not shiver… but the way that tone hit the core of her body, she knew that she was hoping his interest was firmly for her and not just for the Weyr.

"That depends, Wing Second F'nor," she answered him. "Is it the rider or the man who is looking for more than a night?"

"Both," F'nor said without hesitation now that she had opened the floor. "Your gift could help us greatly. But… you." He smiled as they made it to seats with laden plates, settling next to each other. "You captivate me. You hold Canth's attention. None have ever had much luck with that."

"How could they, when your brother holds your heart?" Lessa asked with piercing clarity in the question that stunned F'nor.

"He is the son of my father, and held to a higher standard than most," F'nor began in defense.

"By himself, which I find admirable, if a bit weighty to fathom. Having you there must have been a solid comfort to him." She bit into her slice of rare herd beast as she watched him try to answer her.

"I am, and will always be, loyal to F'lar, but he is his own man, and has reached his goal. I am free to seek my own desires, and those desires, Lessa, include you, whether you ride or not," F'nor finally said, matching her gall with his own boldness.

"Then it's just as well for you, F'nor of Benden, that I choose to learn just what that means for all of us," she answered him. No declaration of love or desire, F'nor noted, but a willingness to explore a future that included him in it.

It was, he decided, a start worth cementing with a chaste kiss on her lips once she'd stopped speaking.

**Author's Note:**

> As fair warning, the next piece may be delayed until December. I normally do NaNoWriMo in November. Sometimes this keeps me from my serials.
> 
> For the curious, I've opted to keep Kasia alive here (though this does not preclude Silvina/Robinton, possibly as a three) by looking at the political disfavor the Harpers were in vis a vis original canon, and making it worse. All it would have taken would have been a recall to the Hall pushing their wedding earlier to save her, and that would have been a mighty political alliance.


End file.
